Today in an interview with NPR, Homeland Security Advisor Frances Fragos Townsend argued that the NIE’s findings strengthen the administration’s argument to stay the course. “Al Qaeda’s resources are focused in Iraq because that’s where we are capturing and killing them every single day, so it drains their resources there,” she said. “[T]hey are very much tied down because we are keeping them tied down fighting them in Iraq.”

NPR host Steve Inskeep challenged Townsend, pointing out that al Qaeda had “no capability in Iraq before the war.” Townsend refused to answer the question, stating, “I don’t know — I wasn’t at that briefing.” She then added, “I’m going to rely on the intelligence community. … I would refer you to them.”

Pete Townshend:

I know you’ve deceived me, now here’s a surprise
I know that you have ’cause there’s magic in my eyes

I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles
Oh yeah

If you think that I don’t know about the little tricks you’ve played
And never see you when deliberately you put things in my way

Well, here’s a poke at you
You’re gonna choke on it too
You’re gonna lose that smile
Beacuse all the while

10 responses to “Nice Try, Fran”

“The fact is, we were harassing them in Afghanistan, we’re harassing them in Iraq, we’re harassing them in other ways, non-militarily, around the world. And the answer is, every time you poke the hornet’s nest, they are bound to come back and push back on you. That doesn’t suggest to me that we shouldn’t be doing it.”

I hope she has children so I can pass that on. “Mommy says go ahead and poke the hornet’s nest, sweetie! Just because they’re going to sting you is no reason not to do it!” (The kids, at least, would learn not to do it again.)

I happened to hear that exchange this morning, and I ended up YELLING at my car radio (I’m sure the people near me in traffic were impressed). Ms. Townsend seemed to be hearing entirely different questions than the ones being asked by Steve Inskeep, and yet she was the one insisting that he wasn’t listening. Baffling.